Chapter 228: The Battle of Shanhaiguan

(Thank you to book friends Ha Ai Superman, June Day Brother and Sister for the monthly pass!) ）

"Ladies and gentlemen, now that the Korean Strait has been cut off by the navy of China, we have no supplies, and we cannot go back to Japan. WM Therefore, we only have to attack, constantly attack. Defeat the current China army and take Shanhaiguan. At that time, the country can take advantage of this opportunity to force China to sign a peace treaty with us that is beneficial to the Empire of Japan. When the time comes, all the monarchs will be the heroes of the Great Japanese Empire! Shan County Youpeng continued to bewitch. In fact, as an army general, one of the veterans of the Japanese military, he is very clear about his current behavior. There is no way out for Japan to retreat, and if the army cannot win, then Japan is really finished. Therefore, they must do their best to get the victory. Then just stop the attack after taking Shanhaiguan, which is better than holding the Liaodong Peninsula.

"Hey!" The division commanders of the eight divisions all replied loudly.

"Your Excellency, Commander, although the warriors of the Great Japanese Empire are supported by the spirit of bushido, we now have only 150,000 troops, which is not much different from the defenders of China. And the Chinese army was on the defensive, which was more advantageous to them. Can you send a few more divisions from the Liaodong Peninsula and North Korea? "The commander of the 2nd Division, Lieutenant General Sakuma, Zuo Ma Tai, built yì road.

"I have sent a herald. Reinforcements from the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 8th Divisions had been deployed, and in five to six days they would be able to go into battle. But I hope that we will be able to conquer Shanhaiguan before the reinforcements arrive, so that the flag of the Great Japanese Empire will fly above the Xiongguan in China, which is known as the 'first pass in the world'! Shan County Youpeng said. He was not a reckless man, and when he set off with his troops, the battle between the Japanese Combined Fleet and the Kawanishi Navy had not begun. At that time, their logistical supply lines were still open. But now, the navy has failed, and in order to be able to defeat the western Sichuan army, he will have to invest more troops. Therefore, Youpeng in Shanxian County immediately issued an order to send reinforcements from four more divisions. Moreover, all four divisions are elite divisions. In order to ensure victory in the war. In this way, they will form a superiority in strength over the western Sichuan army in a few days, and it will also be conducive to their attack.

"Hey! Your Excellency the Commander is wise! Lieutenant General Sakuma Zomathew hurriedly said.

"Tomorrow's battle will start with the Second Division, do you have the confidence to break through the defense line of the Chinese army?" Shan County Youpeng said.

"Please rest assured, commander, the Second Division will definitely be able to break through the defense line of the Chinese army!" Sakuma Zomathew immediately assured. According to the information they received, in the front of the Jiujiang River defense line, the Western Sichuan Army only deployed one division. Although the defending side has an advantageous position, the attacking side can choose the breakthrough point at will. For an elite Japanese army like the 2nd Division, it would be no problem for Britain to defeat the same number of squadrons. This made Lieutenant General Sakuma Zomathew full of confidence.

"Very well, then I'll wait for you to celebrate tomorrow!" Regarding Lieutenant General Sakuma's answer, Yama Prefecture is very satisfied. Although he thought that it would definitely be difficult to attack Shanhaiguan, which was heavily garrisoned by the Western Sichuan Army, he did not pay attention to it at all in the face of the first line of defense of the Western Sichuan Army. The defense line guarded by a division of the Western Sichuan Army was just a charge, and they could break through it with a single charge. You must know that during the First Sino-Japanese War last year, one of their divisions was enough to defeat tens of thousands of Qing troops. Even if the Western Sichuan Army was stronger than the Qing Army, in a one-on-one situation, the victory would definitely belong to them. Youpeng in Shan County would never have thought that tomorrow's battle would be extremely tragic. The corpses of Japanese soldiers will block all the rivers of Jiujiang.

In order to resist the attack of the Japanese army, the western Sichuan Army specially set up the Shanhaiguan Theater, with Zhao Bowen, commander of the Second Cavalry Army, as the commander, and at the same time, the rank has also been promoted to lieutenant general. After taking Xinjiang, all the generals of the Second Cavalry Army were promoted. Zhao Bowen became the fourth lieutenant general of the Western Sichuan Army at the age of 4, which made the rest of the generals very jealous. But everyone knows that after this battle, many generals will be promoted, plus Wang Yuze ascended the throne as emperor, and rewards and the like are indispensable.

Garrisoning the Jiujiang River defense line was Du Qizheng's 23rd Division. In the Sino-British border conflict, the 9th Brigade was almost disabled, and after the war, the 9th Brigade was rebuilt with the veterans of the 9th Brigade as the backbone. After the expansion of the Western Sichuan Army, the 9th Brigade was expanded into the 23rd Division, and Du Qizheng also became the division commander. However, although the 23rd Division has half of the recruits, its combat effectiveness is very strong, which is inseparable from Du Qizheng's own arrogant character.

The garrison of the Jiujiang River defense line was also Du Qizheng's initiative to apply to Zhao Bowen. In the defensive operation of Shanhaiguan, the main force was still four infantry divisions. Two cavalry corps, on the other hand, were mainly used for counterattacks. Cavalry was meant to attack, not to defend a city.

The Jiujiang River defense line, four kilometers long, stretches from the mountains to the west to the sea. The mountain road was difficult to walk, and it was impossible for a large army to march, and if the Japanese army wanted to attack Shanhaiguan, it had to break through the Jiujiang River defense line head-on. However, just in case, Du Qizheng still deployed a battalion of troops in the mountains to the west. The 4-kilometer-long frontal line of defense was defended by the 2nd and 22nd regiments, with the 2nd regiment and divisional units in reserve.

The four artillery pieces of the artillery battalion of the 23rd Division were all deployed three kilometers south of the Jiujiang River defense line, and when the Japanese attacked, they could use artillery fire to block the entire Jiujiang River and even the Japanese army's forward positions on the north side of the river.

"I won't say anything superfluous, the Japanese have already come, it seems, tomorrow they will attack. The task of garrisoning the defense line of the Jiujiang River was personally requested by the commander to come. I promised the commander that the people were in the position, and even if the people were gone, they would have to hold the position. Although we did not fight the Japanese, we fought against the most elite Gurkha infantry brigade of the British in the border conflict. At that time, with the strength of a brigade, we resisted the attack of tens of thousands of elite British soldiers stationed there. Now, then, we can still withstand the Japanese attack! Questions? Du Qizheng said.

"No problem!" Feng Yuan, the commander of the 2nd Regiment, and Lu Hanyuan, the commander of the 22nd Regiment, both replied loudly. They are all old men of the 23rd Division, who used to be the battalion commander of the 9th Brigade, and after the expansion of the unit, they also became the regiment commander.

"Alright, adjournment! Everyone go back and get ready. This is our first battle with the Japanese, and we must fight it well! Du Qizheng instructed repeatedly. Although the Japanese were menacing, the Kawanishi Army was ready. If his 23rd Division hadn't been able to hold the defensive line, he wouldn't have been laughed to death by others!

"Teacher, don't worry! Little Japan dares to attack, we must let him know that we are powerful! Feng Yuan, the commander of the 2nd regiment, said with a smile. Although the Japanese Army defeated the Qing Army last year, the Western Sichuan Army even defeated the British ** team, so naturally the Japanese Army did not take it seriously.

On the morning of April 4, when the morning sun was just showing its face, the camp of the Japanese army was already full of people. The soldiers of the 2nd Division enjoyed delicious rice balls early in the morning, and each of them was given a small piece of meat, which made everyone very excited. For the next battle, morale is also high. The officers of the 2nd Division told the soldiers that they would defeat the people of the opposite side as they had defeated the Qing army last year.

The Jiujiang River is just a small river, and it has not yet entered the flood season in April, and even the eastern estuary is only less than 100 meters wide. In most places, it is only fifty or sixty meters wide, and the narrowest place is only more than twenty meters. In the shallowest place, the water depth is less than half a meter, and an adult can completely swim through. In addition, there are two bridges on the river, namely the Houtun Bridge in the west and the Hexi Bridge in the east. Houtun Bridge belonged to the defense area of the 2nd Regiment, while Hexi Bridge belonged to the defense area of the 22nd Regiment. The two bridges are separated by less than two kilometers. Instead of blowing up the two bridges, the 23rd Division erected heavy weapons such as heavy machine guns near the bridgehead to the south. Should the Japanese attempt to cross the river from these two bridges, the crossfire formed by the heavy machine guns of the Western Sichuan Army was enough to turn this place into their grave.

Just after eight o'clock in the morning, the 2nd Division of the Japanese Army launched an attack. This time the offensive was launched by the 4th Brigade of the 2nd Division. Only one brigade of troops was invested, and artillery fire was not prepared. The intention of the Japanese army was nothing more than to test the firepower of the Western Sichuan Army on the other side of the river.

The 2nd Division and the 1st Brigade responsible for the attack had a total strength of more than 1,000 people. After receiving the order to attack, the more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers immediately jumped into the Jiujiang River shouting "Emperor Itazai" and launched an attack on the south side of the river with a roar. The place they attacked was a place where the river was gentle after all, and the river was only less than fifty meters wide. These Japanese soldiers, rifles in hand, frantically rushed to the other side of the river.

Defending this section of the line was the battalion of the 22nd Regiment. In the face of the attack of the Japanese soldiers, the soldiers of the first battalion did not panic, and everyone calmly waited for the order to open fire.

When the Japanese soldiers entered the middle of the river, the commander of the 1st battalion gave the order to open fire. Suddenly, two Type 2 infantry guns, two heavy mortars, twenty medium and light mortars and twenty heavy machine guns of the 3rd Battalion opened fire.

A large number of shells fell into the river, turning the Japanese soldiers who were crossing the river on their backs. The rows of bullets fired by heavy machine guns were like harvesting the lives of Japanese soldiers. Such a powerful firepower stunned the Japanese soldiers at once. They were attacking the defensive line of a battalion of the Western Sichuan Army, and their firepower was even more ferocious than the firepower of a wing of their Japanese Army.

PS: The third update is here! Tomorrow's fourth watch, there is an update in the early morning! (To be continued.)